talks about the latest releases in the music world

Welcome to edition 799 of Chart Chat, the music review site which has been running for over fifteen years. You can find us on Twitter as @ChartChatUK so feel free to follow us and pass comment on the weeks new releases yourselves. As always we will take a look at the current top forty followed by some reviews of the weeks new releases. There is a new edition published weekly so if you are new here then I hope you will choose to revisit.

Chart Review

There were five new entries, two re-entries, no climbers, thirty songs going down and three non movers on this weeks chart. Sam Smith teamed up with John Legend for a new version of ‘Lay Me Down’ and it went straight in at the top of the charts displacing Years & Years who spent just one week at the top before dropping to this weeks no.2 with ‘King’.

Flo Rida featuring Sage The Gemini went straight in at no.3 with ‘G.D.F.R.’ while Ellie Goulding fell two places to no.4 with ‘Love Me Like You Do’. Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney went down two to no.5 with ‘FourFiveSeconds’ and Hozier also went down two to no.6 with ‘Take Me To Church’. The Weeknd went down two to no.7 with ‘Earned It’ and Usher featuring Juicy J got a new entry at no.8 with ‘I Don’t Mind’. Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars fell three to no.9 with ‘Uptown Funk’ and James Bay went down two to no.10 with ‘Hold Back The River’.

A further new entry was to be found in what remained of the top twenty and that went to Mumford & Sons who went straight in at no.20 with ‘Believe’.

There was one new entry and two re-entries in the lower half of the chart. Calvin Harris featuring HAIM went straight in at no.35 with ‘Pray To God’ while Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne re-entered at no.39 with ‘Rather Be’. The final re-entry came at no.40 and went to John Legend with ‘All Of Me’.

New Releases

Elicit – ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’

North London producer Elicit is next under the hammer with his bass heavy cover of the 1979 Prince track ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’. The single comes released as a single track download alongside a digital bundle containing the Club Mix, the Crissy Criss Remix, the Est 1987 Remix and Est 1987 Extended Remix. The video which accompanies the track was uploaded to their Vevo account at the start of February and it notched up over 5k views during the month. The Crissy Criss Remix received its first play on the Mista Jam Radio 1Xtra show back in November and recently it featured in Blink Box’s Songs You Need To Hear top ten. It is his first release on the RME Records label, a part of the Sony Entertainment family. This track will certainly be a big hit in the dance charts but I’m not sure if this will become a mainstream hit next weekend.

Erasure – ‘Sacred’

It’s been almost thirty years since ‘Who Needs Love Like That’ became their first hit but in 2015 Andy Bell and Vince Clarke are still going strong. This week sees the release of ‘Sacred’ as their new single, and it comes released as a digital bundle containing nine different mixes; the Single Mix, the Chris Cox Remix, the Vibora Park Mix, the Black Light Odyssey Remix, the Rich B & Phil Marriott Remix, the Chris Cox Dub, 88Ninety’s ‘StellarMix8’ Vox Remix, the Fiben Remix and the Live Rehearsal Remix. It was originally taken from their current album ‘The Violent Flame’ which secured them a return to the top twenty upon its release last year. It follows on from earlier singles ‘Elevation’ and ‘Reasoning’ though neither of those reached the top forty. Fans will be keen to snap this up, but it’s unlikely to end their run of eight years without a top forty single.

Hunter Hayes – ‘Light Me Up’

American country music singer Hunter Hayes releases ‘Light Me Up’ this week as only his second single in the UK. It was originally recorded for his 2011 debut album but only appeared on the Encore repackaged version. The official video first appeared on his Vevo account on the 9th February and it had picked up over 25k views during its first two weeks. He will play his only UK gig at the Borderline club in London on the 20th March before he heads off to spend April playing a series of gigs in Australia. His biggest worldwide hit so far has been ‘I Want Crazy’ which reached the top twenty on both the US and Canadian mainstream charts. This is the kind of song which can sometimes be picked up by the commercial radio stations such as Heart, but without their support I expect that this will struggle to reach the top forty next Sunday afternoon.

JessMattic – ‘Loopin’

Florida based duo Jess Mattic release ‘Loopin’ as their third single of the year so far, following on from Januarys ‘The Theme’ and Februarys ‘Sweet Harmony’. They claim to “create a new vision of sound for dance music exploration” and aside from creating soundscapes of their own they also like to remix tracks by other artists. A good example of this is their take on Beastie Boys ‘Intergalactic’ which can be found on their Soundcloud page. There are plenty more tracks to come across the months ahead with ‘Cool Aide’ scheduled for April, ‘The Experience’ for May, ‘Funkin’ Dance’ for June, ‘Burnin’ Hot’ for July, ‘Bangerz’ for August and ‘Higher’ for September. Based on past experience I expect that they will struggle to reach the top forty but so long as they continue to grow their fanbase in the UK they should be ok before too long.

Le Youth – ‘R E A L’

American electronic musician and DJ Le Youth is aiming for a third UK hit with his brand new single ‘R E A L’. It follows on from the success of ‘Cool’ (#26) and his Dominique Young Unique collaboration ‘Dance With Me’ (#11). This latest single comes released as a single track download and a digital bundle which contains three new remixes; the Club Mix, the Tough Love Mix and the Club Dub Mix. He is currently in the midst of an extensive UK tour which concludes in Seattle on the 21st March but has no UK dates planned. The promotional video that accompanies the track was first uploaded to his Vevo account back at the start of the year and has picked up over 125k views since then. For me this is every bit as good as his previous two hits and I can forsee that this will indeed give him another top forty hit next Sunday afternoon.

MNEK – ‘The Rhythm’

The multi talented singer, songwriter and producer MNEK releases his new single ‘The Rhythm’ this week. The single comes released as a single track download and a digital bundle which features four new mixes; the Little Sims Remix, the Alpines Remix, the Astronomyy Remix and the XO Remix. The video to this track was first uploaded on the 12th February and it had raced past the 250k views mark in less than two weeks. As an artist his only success came whilst appearing on Gorgon City’s top ten hit ‘Ready For Your Love’ but as a songwriter he had a hand in writing the no.1 hits ‘Wings’ (Little Mix), ‘Need U (100%)’ (Duke Dumont featuring A*M*E) and ‘Gecko (Overdrive)’ (Oliver Heldens featuring Becky Hill). Most recently he has performed backing vocals on the new Madonna single ‘Living For Your Love’ but he would love to be in the UK charts in his own right next weekend.

Peter Doherty – ‘Flags Of The Old Regime’

Aside from having hits as part of The Libertines and Babyshambles, Peter Doherty did release one solo album back in 2009. Entitled ‘Grace / Wastelands’ it peaked at no.17 and yielded the singles ‘Last Of The English Roses’ and ‘Broken Love Song’. The return of The Libertines has been well documented, but this week sees him release his new single ‘Flags Of The Old Regime’ which comes with the new song ‘Dust On The Road’ as the b side. It was written back in 2011 in the aftermath of the death of his close friend Amy Winehouse and has existed in various forms since then. The official video was uploaded via the Walk Tall Records account and was initially being viewed 20k times per day. It is also available as a limited edition 7″ which is restricted to just 1,000 pressings. This is a beautiful song and should see him back inside the top forty next weekend.

Preditah – ‘Selecta’

Birmingham based Grime star Preditah is next up with his single ‘Selecta’. It is released as a single track download featuring the original mix of the song. His debut release came back in 2011 with the ‘Solitaire’ EP which charted on the iTunes electronica listings. Since then he has released the other EPs ‘Eightsome’ and ‘Circles’. He is appearing live this weekend at Garage Nation at London’s O2 with other appearances due in Oxford and at the York Hall in London over the next month his fans have plenty to look forward to. Music clearly runs through his family as his younger brother, C4, is a Grime MC and Preditah works as a producer on much of his material. While this is bound to be a big hit with fans of Grime music, I’m not sure if he can pick up enough commercial airplay to make the transition over onto the mainstream charts next Sunday afternoon.

Tough Love – ‘So Freakin’ Tight’

London based house duo Tough Love release their latest track ‘So Freakin’ Tight’ this week. The single is released as a single track download and a digital bundle which features six new mixes; the Extended Mix, the Hannah Wants & Tough Love Remix, the S-Man Remix, the S.P.Y. Remix, the Luvstuff Remix and the Westfunk Remix Edit. The summery promotional video was uploaded at the start of February and it was viewed 125k times during the first three weeks. The band have received airplay on the main UK radio stations including Capital, Rinse FM, Radio 1 and Kiss while they have remixed for artists including Shift K3y, Sigma, Borgeous and Le Youth. This is already attracting plenty of attention in clubs across the country and with the humourous video alongside it I forecast that this will land somewhere inside the top forty next weekend.

I expect to see Sam Smith featuring John Legend holding on at the top spot next Sunday. Don’t forget to stop by next week when artists releasing new singles look set to include Cheryl, Jess Glynne, Jessie J and Marina & The Diamonds. Until then have yourself a good week.